Curtis Dean gets a room with a view.

IT'S EASY TO MISTAKE CURTIS DEAN FOR THE concierge when he's sitting at his mahogany desk in the lobby of the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel. There's no door or receptionist to shield him from hotel guests, who frequently wander across the glossy marble floor to ask directions to the restroom or the Liberty Bell. Passing employees, whether chambermaids or department heads, give no indication that the "over 40" Dean is anything more than just another hotel employee. "Hi, C.D.!" they call out cheerfully as they wave his way.

But make no mistake, Curtis Dean is the man in charge of this $200 million palace, which opened in January in the heart of the city's downtown. As manager of the 1,200-room Philadelphia Marriott, the largest hotel in Pennsylvania and the seventh largest in the Marriott chain, Dean is also one of the highest ranking African Americans in hotel management.

"My goal is for the Philadelphia Marriott to be recognized as the most professional and friendliest hotel environment in America because of its diversity, and to prove that diversity is the correct scenario, not just an experiment", Dean says. The challenge for Dean and the Marriott was to not only protect the city's and Marriott's investment, but to ensure that the promise of economic inclusion for African Americans became a reality. Judging by their employment numbers, Dean has done more than just talk the talk.

Of the hotel's 800 employees, 65% are minorities, including 31% of its managers. While Dean says Marriott does not break down those numbers according to ethnic group, it's an impressive ratio in a city that is 40% black. The 1 million-sq.-ft. hotel will also house seven retail shops, three of which--a travel agency, a florist and a beauty salon--may be minority-owned. And despite difficulty finding an African American equity partner, the hotel may be close to a deal. "All parties are still at the table, but a deal has not yet been completed," says Bill Wilson of Synterra Ltd., a Philadelphia-based site architecture and development planning firm and the only equity partner contender.

Dean had much to prove when he arrived in Philadelphia in the summer of 1994 to, as he put it, "give birth" to the new hotel. Only the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which opened in 1993 at a cost of $522 million, has garnered as much attention and raised such high hopes in the City of Brotherly Love.

Together, the convention center and hotel represent an investment of more than half a billion dollars--what critics at the time called a gamble--of taxpayers' money to make Philadelphia a top convention and tourism city.

Marriott used its own money to build the hotel, which covers an entire block and is connected by a skywalk to the convention center, while the city spent millions acquiring the land and preparing the site. More significantly, the project represented a major expenditure of political capital by African American elected officials, including then-Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Philadelphia's first African American mayor, who were criticized for spending scarce public dollars in downtown Philadelphia at the expense of economic development in black neighborhoods.

During construction, minority firms garnered 16%, or $22.5 million, of building trade contracts. Minority workers clocked 19% of the more than 1.1 million work hours during the two-and-a-half-year construction period. Minority-owned firms also got 18%, or $1.6 million worth of the contracts for furnishings and decorations for the hotel.

If those numbers sound good, they look even better to African Americans who have done business with the hotel. "The majority of staff I met upon checking in were African Americans," says Jackie Greene, treasurer of the National Association of Black Journalists, which held its annual convention at the hotel in August. "At most hotels I visit it's rare to see more than two at the front desk. Normally, we have to negotiate in our contract that, at the time of our convention, there will be a good representation of African Americans on staff," Greene says. "This time we didn't have to. I was pleasantly surprised." Greene is also director of technology planning and administration at USA Today.

The Marriott also hosted Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, which brought 10,000 members and their families to Philly in August. W. Ted Smith, executive director of the fraternity, says the construction on the Marriott had not begun when the organization signed on. But the staff quickly allayed any apprehensions he had about going into the hotel "sight unseen." "Hotel managers generally assign someone to represent them, but Dean was committed to personally being involved, says Smith."

Dean has distinguished himself not only inside the Marriott chain, but in the communities outside the doors of the hotels he's managed. In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Dean--then area manager of 21 Marriott Courtyard properties in California--linked up with the Rev. Leon Sullivan, founder of the Opportunities Industrial Centers (OIC), to create a hospitality training program for disadvantaged residents of South Central Los Angeles. Once in Philadelphia, Dean found himself again working with OIC. The institute was chosen to share a $10 million city grant with the public school system to recruit and train employees for the new convention center and hotel.

Bob Nelson, president and CEO of OIC, says the Philadelphia Marriott has proven to be perhaps the agency's best corporate partner. Nearly three dozen OIC grads have been hired by the hotel, and Dean is active at the center, providing hands-on training and serving as the keynote speaker at OIC's graduation ceremonies. "He's taking care of business, says Nelson. "Unlike some of the nonsense you hear from other corporations, like, `If I have any openings your people will be considered,' he made sure people from OIC got jobs in his hotel."

TAKING THE ELEVATOR UP

Dean says his commitment to the disadvantaged is borne out of his own personal experience. "I didn't come from an affluent family," says Dean, who grew up in Cincinnati. "I could have been a graduate of something like OIC."

After high school, Dean enlisted in the Navy. He returned home after the Vietnam War and used the GI Bill to go to the University of Cincinnati, working nights on the assembly line at a General Motors plant. Dean earned a bachelor's degree in business administration. In 1974, he answered an ad for a management training program with the Marriott Corp. After being accepted, he moved his new wife to Washington, D.C., and started training at the Crystal City Marriott in Virginia. A few weeks into the program, the class was canceled, struck down by the recession. Dean was given the option of taking a job as a bellman or pursuing opportunities elsewhere. Having just moved, he decided to stay and put on a bellman's uniform. In less than three months, he got back into the management training class--and had to move again after all.

First stop, Chicago, where Dean's assignment was running the front desk at the Lincolnshire Resort. He-spent six years in the Windy City, continuing his management training in the food and beverage, housekeeping and restaurant departments at three different hotels. Then it was back to the East Coast, where he was appointed assistant manager of a Marriott in Baltimore and did a brief stint as a resident manager at a now-closed hotel in Philadelphia.

It was 10 years before Dean got his first general managers position in Saddlebrook, N.J. Since then, Dean has commanded several other Marriott hotels on the East Coast and in California. With his wife Patricia Ann, a teacher in the Los Angeles school system, and two children still in California, Dean, who is also national president of the Rosa Parks Institute of America, has taken up residence in one of the hotel's suites.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES FLOURISH

Marriott officials say minorities account for 10% of its 511 managers at various sized properties. There are four African Americans running full-service Marriott hotels, and among them Dean manages the largest property. According to the National Association of Black Hospitality Professionals in Columbus, Ga., there are only 30 African American hotel general managers in the country. At larger hotels, manager salaries range from $60,000 to $200,000 annually.

With manufacturing gone and taxpayers continuing to flee big cities, Dean sees the convention and tourism industry as the economic salvation of urban centers like Philadelphia. He says it's important that African Americans take advantage of this fast-growing industry, the country's second largest.

When Dean started his career, few black colleges and universities offered degrees in hotel management. Dean says a business management degree is just as good. Demographers predict that by the year 2000, the entering workforce will be predominantly made up of African Americans, Asians and Latinos. Black managers must be able to effectively work with people from other ethnic cultures, Dean says.

He adds that this is particularly true in the hospitality industry because its high number of entry-level positions tends to attract minorities. Although Dean always had his sights set on heading a major hotel, he says the hospitality industry offers a range of career opportunities, from bellman to general manager. "A hotel is like a hospital," Dean says. "It's open 24 hours a day and runs the gamut of professions." In addition to chambermaids and busboys, large hotels employ lawyers, accountants, engineers, audiovisual technicians and purchasing agents. "We even have a nurse on the property," he adds.

Many people in the community have a sense of pride and ownership with the property, says Romona Riscoe, director of the Multicultural Affairs Congress of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitor's Bureau. "[Dean] has had a lot to do with that." Riscoe says black leaders ard pleased that a Dean has acknowledged their efforts by ensuring that African Americans have a share in the Philadelphia Marriott's success. "He has certainly made a significant impact on the city in a short period of time," she says.

As Dean sits behind his desk in the lobby (he does have a private office), waxing philosophical about what he acknowledges is the greatest challenge of his career, a couple of tourists walk up and ask for directions to the John Coltrane Museum. "I'm not sure," Dean replies kindly, "but if you walk over there to the concierge desk, someone will be able to help you."

"Oh, this isn't the concierge desk?"

"No sir," Dean smiles. "I'm the hotel manager."